The Tyrone 12U All-Star baseball team traveled to the small town of Bel Air, Maryland to compete in the Upper Chesapeake Bay Tournament on April 2-3, 2016. The three hour ride each way and five hard practices were all worthwhile as the ten boys rallied together to win their division of the tournament.

“For a group of 11-12 year old boys, not expecting much, [they] overachieved [my] goal of the tournament,” said Head Coach Tom Coleman. “[The boys] definitely grew within those 48 hours.”

The first game played by the team in the consolation round was against the Shut-Down Orioles, where Tyrone taught them a thing or two about truly ‘shutting-down’. The Tyrone team notched a 9-3 victory over the O’s. Ross “The Boss” Gampe, Dylan Vipond and Zac “Attack” LeGars went 2-2 in this game with LeGars hitting doubles both times up at bat. Offensively, pitchers Aiden Coleman, Cortland “Cort”  Rhoades, and Gampe gave up only two hits and one earned run.

“[It was] fun versing better teams with a better team,” said Tyrone’s Zack Lash.

The team’s second consolation was a tough loss to Olney’s, 2-4. The Olney’s were considered the tournament’s  best team from Maryland. Like the freezing wind and weather, Tyrone’s bats went cold with only three hits. Three single hits in the first inning came from Vipond, Rhoades and Luke Brooks. However, our pitching stayed strong with only one earned run from the Olney’s.

“[I noticed that] we had a good solid defense when pitching,” Aiden Coleman said.

In the final match of the consolation games, Tyrone scored a 17-7 ten-run rule victory over the opposing team after the 4th inning.

“[They] never posed a threat at all” said Coach Tom Coleman, considering that one point during the game the boys topped them 17-2.

On Sunday the games were played in 30-40 degree weather.  But that didn’t stop the Tyrone gang from having the bats going strong. Aiden “AC” Coleman and Keegan “KG” Gwinn both had three hits. Vipond, LeGars and Zack “Whip” Lash all had two hits. Lash also hit a home run that scored in two runners on base.

“[I had hoped they’d] play hard, compete and at least make it to the final four,” said Assistant Head Coach Chad Brooks.

After the consolation rounds, teams had to wait to see if they had made it into the top four. To make it to the semi-finals and the championships, teams had to be in the top four seeds to compete based on wins to losses and runs earned to runs given up. The Tyrone team was seeded fourth overall of the 12 teams. The boys entered the top four single elimination round as the wild card.

Going into the semi-finals, the team and their fans were really excited and anxious. They faced the 2nd seeded team, Clarksburg, because they faced against the 1st seed team (the Olney’s) in the consolation rounds. The boys entered the game with a 2-1 record, while the opposing team was 3-0.

Tyrone’s pitchers shut-down a solid hitting team. The boys only let six hits and three earned runs. Their batting, yet again, was a key to the success of this win. A. Coleman had four single hits in the game. Players who had three hits were Nick Lehner, Deegan Baldauf and Lash with another three run home run, making it his second one in the tournament. The Tyrone team won 16-6 to claim a spot in the Championship game.

“[We played some] pretty good teams,” said Vipond. “Everyone had really good sportsmanship.”

Before the game, all of the players were tired from playing so much, had sore arms from throwing and freezing from the bitterly cold wind. It’s hard to tell what the players enjoyed more: hanging out in a hotel together, playing “Triple D” (Ding-Dong-Ditch) to Dumpster Basketball, or coming together to play some great baseball against some good teams.  Either way, every player knew this was the moment to make Tyrone proud.

“[We were against] travel teams. It was a fun because of the experience,” Baldauf said.

In championship game the Tyrone boys were winning 9-3 after the 4th inning. After the 5th, the score had climbed to 9-7. During the 6th, LeGars had managed to escape to home, earning a run for the team, making the score 10-7. While on defense in the bottom of the 6th, the Manchester Blue Soxs earned three runs, tying the score 10-10. A pitcher change secured the last out of the inning and both teams went into extra innings.

“[We just] had fun and played for the experience,” Aiden Coleman said.

Dylan Vipond and Ross Gampe both scored runs making the score 12-10. Defensively, Gampe ended the game with three strikeouts and only one hit on him in extra innings.

“[It was good to play] with higher level ball players,” said Gampe. “We worked together really well.”

All ten boys received a first place trophy. Aiden Coleman was given a Cal Ripken pin from the opposing team because they thought he represented the MVP for our team. The pin was personal achievement the other team does for teams. He was also given the MVP nomination for the tournament voted by the other team. Zack Lash earned the MVP nomination decided by the Tyrone coaches.

“This is a special group for me,” said Tom Coleman. “I’ve never seen such an unselfish bunch of boys that get along so well and support each other’s accomplishments. They are the epitome of what makes a great team.”

This tournament was made possible by all of the supporting coaches, parents, siblings and family of the players, who deserve a huge thanks in the success of the win.